Sun King Research Articles

When does the roads of a priest, the “Sun King” Louis XIV of France, beauties of ancient Egypt, and Moliere intersect? An alternative overview to the history of science of medicine

When does the roads of a priest, the “Sun King” Louis XIV of France, beauties of ancient Egypt, and Moliere intersect? An alternative overview to the history of science of medicine

Le Roi Danse (The King Dances) (review)

Le Roi Danse (The King Dances) (2000) Directed by Gerard Corbiau Distributed by RemStar 115 minutes Gerard Corbiau's Le Ro/ Danse (2000; released with subtitles 2008) puts its foot forward, as it were, from the very beginning. Dancing feet, elegantly slippered and superbly arched, propelled both King Louis IV and his court composer Jean-Baptiste LuIIy (1632-1687) to heights of power and glory. But those same feet, damaged and broken, ultimately brought both men down. The aging Sun King stumbled badly and never danced again. And after suffering a freak accident to his right foot, the venerable LuIIy took to his bed and died of gangrenous infection. A metaphor for life and art, the dance, like the meteoric careers of both men, defied gravity and circumstance in its initial ascent and fell back to Earth in its final trajectory of failure and disgrace. Likewise, Le Ro/ Danse initially leaps forward in its breathless pace, propulsive editing, and blazing color palette; but at the end it lapses into the still point of a somber and measured eulogy for a vanished Golden Age. LuIIy was, according to French Baroque music historian William Christie, a national figure from his early days, and long after his death he was canonized only by the aristocracy, the literati, and the musical educated, but by everybody in France. His god-like standing in the world of French music constituted a parallel to the divine appointments of his patron, Louis XIV, who reigned from 1643 to his death in 1715. Together they ruled; and together they repeatedly bickered and reconciled in a symbiotic artistic and political embrace. The film opens in 1687 when the aging LuIIy, in defiance of the King's absence at a court performance, orders his orchestra to begin to play. But while pounding his staff into the floor to keep time, he stabs himself in the foot and takes to his bed, facing the amputation of his foot. Not my leg, he cries, not a dancer's leg! Flashback: It is 1653. The young Louis, yet a King, prepares to make his dancing debut as Apollo. The boy LuIIy, newly arrived from his native Italy, and currying favor with the future King, presents him with a specially crafted pair of dancing slippers. Reluctant at first, the King tries them on and is soon dancing his approval. Eight years later, upon the death of Cardinal Mazarin, the King claims the throne and demands his autocratic power over all affairs of state and art. Lully's music by now is setting the King to dancing, and the King's favor protects LuIIy from the court intrigues against his increasingly licentious lifestyle. Lully's one wish to the King is granted: he is now proclaimed a French citizen. Both LuIIy and the King bask in the same divinely-appointed glow, Sun Kings alike, of State and of Music. But both are inevitably consumed by their own egos. Against the warnings of his mother, the King grows increasingly arrogant in his God-like assumptions and foolish extravagances at the Versailles Court. LuIIy is likewise autocratic in his presumptions that he is the god of music, and only he composes for France and the King. Both will pay a price: the King lapses into conservative politics and religious intolerance; LuIIy finds himself estranged from the Court; and both will confess they are alone and friendless. Enter the third angle of this tripartite story, Moliere (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin). After years of acting and supplying one-actors in the provinces with his own touring company, we see him back in Court, also enjoying the King's favor, even when his satiric plays offend the religious zealots at court (as in the alleged insults to religion in a performance of Tartuffe,i64i). His targets include silly young bloods, jealous/henpecked husbands, misers, coquettes, hypocrites and physicians. The King, reluctantly bowing to his mother's pressure, bans Moliere's play. Meanwhile, Moliere desires to strike a bargain with LuIIy: They will compose comedy-ballets as a counter to the current popularity in Paris of Italian opera. …

Darryl Dee . Expansion and Crisis in Louis XIV's France: Franche‐Comté and Absolute Monarchy, 1674–1715 . (Changing Perspectives on Early Modern Europe, number 13.) Rochester, N.Y. : University of Rochester Press . 2009 . Pp. xi, 245. $80.00.

Since the 1980s the traditional picture of the reign of Louis XIV as the embodiment of early modern “absolutism” has been transformed. In place of centralized authority triumphing over localism and aristocratic privilege, we are offered the picture of a conservative regime upholding established provincial and corporate elites and buying acquiescence through compromise and collaboration. Yet two questions linger in what seems a wholesale renversement of historical assumptions about the Sun King's government: key studies that have contributed to this revisionism have been based on analysis of the pays d'états, those powerful, outlying provinces whose quasi-autonomy and privileges had usually been respected by the French crown; the arguments for collaboration work well in the first decades of the reign, but from the later 1680s Louis XIV's government, driven by warfare on an unprecedented scale, embarked on a series of fiscal policies that attacked elite privilege and autonomy. Darryl Dee's new book addresses both these questions. Franche-Comté, conquered by French arms in 1674, was far removed from the privileged status of a pays d'état such as Languedoc. The process of integrating Franche-Comté and its elites into the monarchy required much more deliberate policy initiatives from the center, and these were imposed from the 1670s through to the end of the reign. Dee demonstrates that in this context, for a territory under military occupation and with no presumptions that its privileges were non-negotiable, Louis's government had teeth and was not afraid to show them to local elites who misinterpreted concessions for weakness. The magistrates of Besançon, hitherto elected by popular suffrage, believed that they could bargain with their new ruler for the preservation of municipal autonomy. In 1676 that body was suppressed without formality, and a new civic government established on the pattern of other lesser cities in Franche-Comté, with limited powers and a narrowly oligarchic membership. The king's council, through the intendant, decided that a body whose members were accountable to the citizens would never prove an effective agent of royal government, while as an additional precaution the range of the activities of the remodeled magistracy was reduced and shared with a bailliage court. Yet at the same time, Besançon, stripped of its privileges, was elevated to the status of provincial capital, hitherto held by Dôle, a change marked by the transfer of the supreme law court, the parlement, to Besançon. These concessions, indicative of a stick and carrot approach by royal government that Dee delineates throughout very effectively, came at a price: Besançon was to pay 300,000 livres over three years in return for its parlement. This was the start of what was to be a progressive, though uneven, escalation in the fiscal demands placed on the territory.

“What Did It Mean to be a French Diplomat in the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries?”

Delving into a study of about fifty French embassies that were established under Louis XIV, the author demonstrates that the criteria of selection of the diplomatic personnel by the Sun King was directly related to the degree of confidence the King had in these officials. However, this degree of confidence was usually determined by a list of requirements reflecting those listed by numerous authors of works on the concept of the “perfect ambassador.” Therefore this selection process reflects the progression of the thought of these authors, developing from a vision marked in humanism to a more rational understanding of the diplomatic culture.

Historische representatie en de betekenis van het verleden

Historical narratives consist of three different kinds of information: information about past events (the inventory of the past), information about other historical narratives (the historiographical thesis), and information about the meaning of the past (the historical thesis). These different aspects of historical knowledge together constitute a coherent view on a certain period in time. This article examines these forms of information and their interaction by examining Georgia J. Cowart’s book The Triumph of Pleasure. Louis XIV & the Politics of Spectacle (2008) as a case study. Her work shows how artists undermining the Sun King’s propaganda of absolute kingship were expressing an ideology of social equality and harmony, anticipating eighteenth century Enlightenment. These criticisms of absolutism are part of the inventory of the past. The view that those criticisms should be highlighted when interpreting late seventeenth-century France is the historiographical thesis of the work. What makes the criticisms of absolutism meaningful is that they function as examples of the new ideology of social equality and harmony. Historical narratives exemplify the past in order to express a thesis about the past.

Le Promeneur a Paris au XVIIIe siecle

The Parisian boulevards are so indissolubly linked with the modernisation of the city during the Second Empire, that it is good to have a reminder that they predate Haussmann and Napoleon III by nearly two centuries. As Laurent Turcot shows, in his stimulating, learned and readable account of the Parisian pedestrian in the long eighteenth century, the boulevard was a Louis-Quatorzian invention, imposed on the city ramparts in 1670 following the Sun King's decision to demilitarise his capital in the light of the events of the Fronde. Other French cities would follow the Parisian lead. Boulevards form a central element in Turcot's account, which focuses on the way in which the social practice and everyday necessity of walking both shaped and was shaped by the built environment, with lasting effects on representations of the capital. The theatralisation of urban space under the baroque monarchy gave surprisingly short shrift to the act of walking. The social and political elite considered mobility within Paris in terms of use of the carriage, a relatively recent invention in fact that reinforced hierarchies of wealth and taste. In terms of social visibility, post-Renaissance books of civility – which Turcot uses to particularly good effect – had depreciated the street, which the elite was happy to leave to the lower orders. As late as 1777, the Italian writer Caraccioli was commenting how the nobility in Paris was only just beginning to get used to the idea that they could descend from their carriages and use their legs. Particularly favoured elite locations in the late seventeenth century were the Cours-la-Reine and gardens à la française which were in theory public, but entry to which were strictly policed. Here the preening honnête homme could perform a comprehensive set of socially-graded behaviours and bodily postures before the obligatorily genteel audience. Here one promenaded lightly; walking was what others did in the street.

The Five Stages of Original Korean Philosophy(4) - From the Mutual Respects of Joseon-Heaven to the Rights for Life-Living of Nation Federation

The Five Stages of Original Korean Philosophy(4) - From the Mutual Respects of Joseon-Heaven to the Rights for Life-Living of Nation Federation

A cultural theory of international relations

1. Introduction 2. Fear, interest and honor 3. The spirit and its expression 4. The ancient world 5. Medieval Europe 6. From Sun King to Revolution 7. Imperialism and World War I 8. World War II 9. Hitler to Bush and beyond 10. General findings and conclusions.

Reading for Law and the State: Theaters of Problematization and Authority

Constructing a particular nation, that of early modern England, is seen here as a series of theatrical performances. Shakespeare’s work is taken as a series of thought experiments. Some, like The Merchant of Venice, are reassuring that threatening circumstances and innovatory social practices are capable of being overcome or assimilated from the unknown to the known. Some, like King Lear and Hamlet, ponder the consequences of a failure to discover a resolution. Some writers have argued that England was historically quite early in beginning to conceive of itself as a nation, rather than as a population of possibly heterogeneous regions subject to a dynasty, a state of affairs summarized in the by now cliched remark attributed to the Sun King, “L’Etat, c’est moi”. For Shakespeare, if not for all of his contemporaries, the Englishman is a bit slow-witted, owing to his fondness for beef and red wine, but he is distinguishable from others and provides material for the second pieces of theater I look at. If there could be an Englishman, his experience with the absolutist pretensions of the Stuart monarchy allowed there to be a free-born Englishman (and, actually, Englishwoman). The two crucial battles of the English civil war, Marston Moor and Naseby, followed by the Army Debates of 1647–1649 form the stage for an at least aspiring egalitarianism we now know as the rights of man, or the rights of the civic person.

Stuart Clark: The Sun Kings, The Unexpected Tragedy of Richard Carrington and the Tale of How Modern Astronomy Began

Stuart Clark: The Sun Kings, The Unexpected Tragedy of Richard Carrington and the Tale of How Modern Astronomy Began

:Paintings for the Planet King: Philip IV and the Buen Retiro Palace

Philip IV of Spain (ruled 1621 - 1665) was known as the 'Planet King', shining as brightly in the sphere of the arts as would Louis XIV the Sun King after him. The Buen Retiro Palace (though how largely destroyed) was a model for Versailles, but surpassed any palace ever built in Europe for the collection of paintings it contained, especially those commissioned in the 1630s from the finest painters in Europe at the time. These included the court painters Velazquez and Zurbaran (Spanish), the honorary court painter Rubens (Flemish), Claude, Poussin (French), Jan Both and Herman van Swaneveld (Dutch), and Domenichino, Lanfranco and other Italians. A much fascinating new material illustrating the pictorial. This magnificent catalogue contains a mouthwatering display of paintings by these masters, and decoration of the major focus of the Golden Age of Spanish painting, the new Buen Retiro Palace built by Philip IV. While many of these are very famous - but seen now in a new light - others have remained unidentified in the Prado's storerooms. Jonathan Brown and John Elliott are well-known for their landmark publication on the Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid. In this catalogue accompanying a major exhibition at the Prado Museum in the summer of 2005, they summarize and add details to their earlier research. The other authors break new ground in their further exploration of the extraordinary collection of masterpieces, old and new, for the Buen Retiro.

Book Review: The Sun Kings: The Unexpected Tragedy of Richard Carrington and the Tale of How Modern Astronomy Began

Book Review: <i>The Sun Kings: The Unexpected Tragedy of Richard Carrington and the Tale of How Modern Astronomy Began</i>

“The Sun Kings: The Unexpected Tragedy of Richard Carrington and the Tale of How Modern Astronomy Began”

List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Prologue: The Dog Years 1 Chapter One: The First Swallow of Summer 9 Chapter Two: Herschel's Grand Absurdity 25 Chapter Three: The Magnetic Crusade 47 Chapter Four: The Solar Lockstep 58 Chapter Five: The Day and Night Observatory 71 Chapter Six: The Perfect Solar Storm 80 Chapter Seven: In the Grip of the Sun 93 Chapter Eight: The Greatest Prize of All 98 Chapter Nine: Death at the Devil's Jumps 117 Chapter Ten: The Sun's Librarian 129 Chapter Eleven: New Flare, New Storm, New Understanding 148 Chapter Twelve: The Waiting Game 168 Chapter Thirteen: The Cloud Chamber 179 Epilogue: Magnetar Spring 188 Bibliography 191 Index 207

:Sunspots and the Sun King: Sovereignty and Mediation in Seventeenth-Century France

:<i>Sunspots and the Sun King: Sovereignty and Mediation in Seventeenth-Century France</i>

Sunspots and the Sun King: Sovereignty and Mediation in Seventeenth‐Century France. By Ellen M. McClure. The Humanities Laboratory. Edited by, Sander L. Gilman. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006. Pp. ix+316. $50.00.

<i>Sunspots and the Sun King: Sovereignty and Mediation in Seventeenth‐Century France</i>. By Ellen M. McClure. The Humanities Laboratory. Edited by, Sander L. Gilman. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006. Pp. ix+316. $50.00.

France, Mon Amour

VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL RICHMOND, VIRGINIA MARCH 28-30, 2008 In late March, Richmond, Virginia, once capital of Confederate South, turns into capital of French film in United States. The annual French Film Festival, organized by Virginia. Commonwealth University (VCU), screens eleven features and several short films. Sixteen years ago, VCU French Professor Peter Kirkpatrick and his wife Francoise co-founded festival, which has since grown into largest in U.S. As programmers, Kirkpatricks view most French films produced each year, even though films might not have an American distributor yet and indeed some will never be released in this country. The festival offers public opportunity to experience the true diversity of French film industry, according to Kirkpatrick.(1) The event is conveniently located in artsy Carytown district of Richmond. The movies are screened in gorgeous Byrd Theatre, a grand, old movie palace built in 1928 that seats 1,400. The lengthy festival opener, Laerent Boutonnatt,s Jacquo le Croquant (2007), used history as a mere backdrop for a rather predictable adventure story in which good triumphed over evil. The next day's film, Daniel Vigne's fean de la Fontaine (2007), about famous creator of fables, drew a fascinating portrait of a poet turned critic of regime of Sun King Louis XIV and made history come alive. The French love history and literature, so it was no surprise that many of films were based on successful novels. With Sam Karmann's La Verite ou presque (2007), festival hit its stride. The film, an almost-comedy about several couples struggling to be honest in their relationships, seemed quintessentially French in subject matter. This was surprising as it is based on 2001 novel True Enough by American author Stephen McCauley. One of prime examples for artistic success and strength of French cinema was film by cinema veteran Jean Becker, Dialogue avec mon jardinier (2007). Loosely translated as Conversations with my gardener, it is a film about a gradually developing friendship between two former schoolmates. In its quiet ways it speaks loudly of alchemy of French cinema. The film's narrative almost immediately pulls audience into a dialogue between a successful but exhausted Parisian painter and his childhood friend Leo, whom he hires to take care of his garden. …

The King's Two Teeth

Hyacinthe Rigaud's famous swagger portrait of Louis XIV in full regalia presents 'Louis the Great' at the height of his powers, framed in an ostentatiously theatrical setting. Painted in 1701, displayed at the Paris Salon in 1704, the work dazzles the viewer with sumptuous ceremonial display.1 Crown, sceptre, great sword of state, and heavy, fleur-de-lisee ermine robes evoke the putatively timeless nature of the French monarchy. The king's posture is unfazed, relaxed, mildly disdainful. He inverts the royal sceptre playfully as though it were a walking stick, or a child's toy or the swagger-stick of a military commander; the gesture magnifies rather than diminishes his grandeur. Strongly featured are his sculpted legs, which the chronicler, the due de Saint-Simon, a far from sycophantic aficionado of court life, adjudged the finest he ever saw. They painstakingly replicate the pose which Louis, as a young man, had adopted when dancing as Apollo in court ballets as his own Premier Dancer, at a time when the Sun King was in the ascendant.2 The king's lofty and impassive gaze, almost dictating reverential obeisance from the humble spectator, emerges from a body polished, primped and more than a little prettified for the occasion. The calf muscles are scarcely those of a sextuagenarian: especially one often crippled by gout and habituated to being pushed round in a wheelchair. The red heeled courtier shoes lift the ruler well above his scarcely impressive five foot three inches. The copious curls of a towering black wig obscure the fact that Louis was precociously bald. And the unruffled forehead displays a ruler with scarcely a care in the world even though when it was painted Louis was embarking with heavy heart on what would be his last, ruinous war, the War of Spanish Succession (1701-14). Yet in this mythologizing and mendacious portrait which seeks to erase the passage, even the existence, of time, one feature stands out and shocks for its stark naturalism: hollow cheeks and wrinkled mouth reveal a ruler with not a tooth in his head.

Teaching & Learning Guide for: The View from the Interior: The New Body Scholarship in Renaissance/Early Modern Studies

Teaching & Learning Guide for: The View from the Interior: The New Body Scholarship in Renaissance/Early Modern Studies

Book Review: Linking Earth and Sun, the Sun Kings: The Unexpected Tragedy of Richard Carrington and the Tale of How Modern Astronomy Began

Book Review: Linking Earth and Sun, the Sun Kings: The Unexpected Tragedy of Richard Carrington and the Tale of How Modern Astronomy Began

The sun kings: the unexpected tragedy of Richard Carrington and the tale of how modern astronomy began

The sun kings: the unexpected tragedy of Richard Carrington and the tale of how modern astronomy began